[vcf-midatlantic] How old is "vintage"? (was: Found an IBM XT in my garage.)

[Adam Michlin]

Hi Bruce,

VCF, as a national organization, does not weigh in on what is and is
not vintage.

VCFMA (MA = Mid Atlantic) takes the perspective of scope and also does
not weigh in on what is and is not vintage. The decision there was
that the cut off date is 1995. This doesn't mean MA is uninterested in
post 1995 computing equipment and certainly doesn't mean MA thinks
anything post 1995 is explicitly *not* vintage, but it does require
that the Steering Committee make an active decision about a potential
incoming donation on equipment newer than 1995.

Scope is extremely important at the museum level as no organization
has an infinite amount of display or storage space. My favorite
example is the Homecomputermuseum in the Netherlands. They have some
absolutely amazing displays that are totally within their scope. MA
also has some absolutely amazing displays at Infoage that are totally
within their, very different, scope.

I love living in a world where places like LSSM (just got their Cray
working!), System Source (just acquired a Lisa 1!), Homecomputermuseum
(recently became home of the world's largest collection of CD-i
media!), the Infoage VCFMA museum, and on and on all have different
scopes. No one organization can store and display everything.

As to brands, sometimes the minor brands are the most interesting. I'm
particularly fond of the Zorba luggable, for example. What is kept by
MA is entirely dependent on what is already in inventory and available
storage space.

I hope this helps!

Best wishes,

       -Adam

---
Adam Michlin
Director of Marketing
Vintage Computer Federation

On Wed, Aug 4, 2021 at 5:43 PM Bruce via vcf-midatlantic
<vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
>
> Neils post prompts this lurker to inquire:  Just how old need a computer be
> to be of interest to VCF?
> PC was - what? -- 1980?  AT after that.  XT even later.
> What about minor brands, etc.?
> Bruce
> NJ
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 4, 2021 at 1:42 PM Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic <
> vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
>
> > I'm doing a bit of cleanup around the house an suddenly found an IBM
> > XT (think it's really a real XT).
> >